Vindoline, synthesis

Vincamine, vinblastine and vincristine are very important clinic alkaloids. They are produced naturally by plants vincamine by Vinca minor, and vinblascine and vincristine by Madagascar periwinkle Catharanthus roseus). The vindoline synthesis pathway starts with strictosidine and, via dehydrogeissoschizine, preakuammicine, stemmadenine and tabersonine, is converted to vindoline and vincristine (Figure 42). Conversion from vindoline to vinblastine is based on the NADH enzyme activity. Vinblastine and vincristine are very similar alkaloids. The difference is that vincristine has CHO connected to N, whereas vinblastine in the same situation has only CO3. This synthetic structural differences influence their activity. Vinblastine is used to treat Hodgkin s disease (a form of lymphoid cancer), while vincristine is used clinically in the treatment of children s leukaemia. Vincristine is more neurotoxic than vinblastine. 

Langlois notable contributions in respect of vindorosine/vindoline synthesis began with a new preparation of the pentacyclic ketones 530a,b 316). Subsequently, Feldman and Rapoport 317) developed an independent synthesis of 530b from a chiral precursor, only to find that it was racemic. Hence, in order to avoid racemization, an alternative route was devised 318). The cause of the racemization during this and Langlois synthesis... 

Takano et al. have published a second preliminary communication in which new approaches to the intermediates (200) and (201) in Biichi s vindorosine/vindoline synthesis are described. 

The vindoline synthesis required prior preparation of the amine coupling partner, the 2,4-dinitrobenzenesulfonamide 713, which was prepared from the pent-anal 710, as shown in Scheme 43. A notable feature of this route was the enzyme-mediated resolution of the cyanohydrin acetate 711, via enzymatic hydrolysis to selectively afford a diastereomeric mixture of only the (5)-cyanohydrins 712. 

Vindoline [2182-14-1] (45), a monomeric Vinca alkaloid intermediate important in the synthesis of antineoplastic alkaloids, is selectively converted in good yield to 0-desmethylvindoline [68687-22-9] (46) by cultures of Sepedonium chrysospermum (17,25), whereas Streptomyces albogriseolus removes only the A[-methyl group to give (47) (91) (see Chemotherapeutics, anticancer). 

The field of alkaloid synthesis via tandem cyclizations favors the application of (TMSlsSiH over other radical-based reagents, due to its very low toxicity and high chemoselectivity. For example, cyclization of the iodoarylazide 102, mediated by (TMSlsSiH under standard experimental conditions, produced the N-Si(TMS)3 protected alkaloid 103 that after washing with dilute acid afforded the amine 104 in an overall 83% yield from 102 (Reaction 81). ° The formation of the labile N-Si(TMS)3 bond was thought to arise from the reaction of the product amine 104 with the by-product (TMSlsSil. The skeletons of ( )-horsfiline, ( )-aspidospermidine and (+ )-vindoline have been achieved by this route. - ... 

Tables 4.32 and 4.33 summarize the metrics for the synthesis plans for both products. The Fukuyama plans to both targets are very similar differing only in the very late stages of each plan. The Kuehne plan to vinblastine is considerably shorter than the Fukuyama one since it uses (—) -vindoline as an available starting material in stage 11. This explains why its overall kernel RME is 17 times larger than that of the Fukuyama plan. For a more fair comparison, if the upper two branches leading to (—)-vindoline are omitted from the Fukuyama plan, the number of stages remain the same at 27 but the number of reactions and inputs decreases to 29 and 47, respectively. These changes result in an increase in overall kernel RME from 0.3% to 0.5% but it is still an order of magnitude less than that determined for the Kuehne...

Kobayashi, S., Ueda, T, Fukuyama, T. (2000) An Efficient Total Synthesis of (—)-Vindoline. Synlett, 883-886. 

Scheme 4.29. Synthesis of analogues of the indole alkaloid vindoline.

Having an efficient total synthesis of the indole alkaloid vindoline in mind, the Boger group [47] developed a facile entry to its core structure using a domino [4+2]/[3+2] cycloaddition. Reaction of the 1,3,4-oxadiazoles 4-139 led to 4-140 in high yield and excellent stereoselectivity via the intermediates 4-141 and 4-142 (Scheme 4.29). 

In contrast to the failure of Diels-Alder reactions, dipolar cycloadditions of indoles are much more successful, and the Boger group has reported a fascinating [4+2]/l,3-dipolar cycloaddition cascade involving indole as the dipolarophile in their impressive synthesis of vindoline (Scheme 4.8) [26]. After the initial... 

A systematic exploration of the intramolecular [4+2]/[3+2] cycloaddition cascade of 1,3,4-oxadiazoles was described. The studies permit the use of unsymmetrical dienophiles, dipolarophiles, and oxadiazoles as well as to control the cycloaddition regioselectivity and diastereoselectivity. The scope and utility of the reaction were defined <2006JA10589>. The tandem intramolecular [4+2]/[3+2] cycloaddition cascade reaction of 1,3,4-oxadiazole was applied to the syntheses of a series of natural products including a total synthesis of (-)- and ent-(+)-vindoline <2006JA10596>. 

A total synthesis of (+ )-vinblastine widely used in cancer chemotherapy, has been reported. It includes the synthesis of (-)-vindoline. 1,3-Dipolar cycloaddition of a nitrile oxide has played an important role in the preparation of the indoloazacycloundecane moiety, whose coupling with (-)-vindoline occurs with the desired stereochemistry, leading to an intermediate readily transformed to the target (+ )-vinblastine (492). 

Salutaridinol 7-0-acetyltransferase catalyzes the conversion of the phenanthrene alkaloid salutaridinol to salutaridinol-7-Oacetate, the immediate precursor of thebaine along the morphine biosynthetic pathway in P. somniferum (Fig. 10.7).26 Acetyl CoA-dependent acetyltransferases have an important role in plant alkaloid metabolism. They are involved in the synthesis of monoterpenoid indole alkaloids in medicinal plant species such as Rauwolfia serpentina. In this plant, the enzyme vinorine synthase transfers an acetyl group from acetyl CoA to 16-epi-vellosimine to form vinorine. This acetyl transfer is accompanied by a concomitant skeletal rearrangement from the sarpagan- to the ajmalan-type (reviewed in2). An acetyl CoA-dependent acetyltransferase also participates in vindoline biosynthesis in Catharanthus roseus, the source of the chemotherapeutic dimeric indole alkaloid vinblastine (reviewed in2). Acetyl CoA deacetylvindoline 4-O-acetyltransferase catalyzes the last step in vindoline biosynthesis. A cDNA encoding acetyl CoA deacetylvindoline 4-0-acetyltransferase was recently successfully isolated.27... 

The real breakthrough toward synthesis of vinblastine and, in fact, the first significant laboratory preparation of binary indole-indoline alkaloids with the natural C-16 -C14 PARF configuration, was due to the work of the Potier-Langlois team at Gif (38,39 for reviews, see Refs. 40 and 41), buttressed by results obtained by the Kutney group in Vancouver (42,43,44), and the efforts of Atta-ur-Rahman and associates in Karachi. Their basic idea, which relied on the biogenetic consideration that binary indole-indoline alkaloids are formed in plants by the union of vindoline... 

For a synthesis of leurosidine (56), 15,20-dihydrocatharanthine iV-oxide (57) was subjected to coupling with vindoline (3) under the modified Polo-novski conditions. The initial adduct, imonium salt 58, was converted to the enamine 59 in base. Oxidation of this product with osmium tetrox-ide proceeded chemo- and stereoselectively, without reaction of the... 

Although there are many examples of bisindole derivatives that are prepared by reaction of a naturally occurring alkaloid with various reagents, there are few examples of compounds that result from chemistry that alters the skeletal features of these compounds. Much interest has been directed at the synthesis of the dimeric compounds by the coupling of the monomer units vindoline (21) and catharanthine (38), in part because of the necessity of using this strategy to prepare bisindoles by total synthesis. 

The Polonovski reaction on catharanthine Nb-oxide (170) leads to fission of the 5,6-bond and re-cyclization with formation of (171) 106 in the presence of other nucleophiles (e.g. vindoline), this reaction forms the basis of the synthesis of the vinblastine group of alkaloids (q.v.). The formation of (171) is reversible in acid solution, and under appropriate conditions the methylene group (C-5) is lost as formaldehyde re-cyclization by the Mannich reaction then gives 5-norcatharan-thine (173) (Scheme 23).106"... 

Natural products have always been attractive targets for the application of newly developed synthetic strategies. In this field, only a few examples have been reported, in which intramolecular aryl radical addition reactions occur to non-activated carbon-carbon double bonds [69]. One of the early examples is the first total synthesis of (—)-y-lycorane [70]. More recently, formal total syntheses of aspidos-permidine [71] and vindoline [72] have been accomplished by an aryl radical... 

Several simple derivatives of vindoline have been prepared117 as intermediates in the synthesis of model vinblastine derivatives. 

---